Covid-19 testing increases in the high-risk zones

Published Friday, June 26, 2020

Covid-19 testing increases
in the high-risk zones

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Due to the increase in patients infected with covid-19 in the country, mainly in the northern zone and San José Province, specialists of Social Security are increasing the virus testing in that region.

According to Social Security, in the northern zone, 192 diagnostic tests have been conducted on the workers of 204 companies.

Since June 16, the special testing operation has been carried out to confirm or rule out viruses in people who have characteristics in a population at risk.

"We are looking for symptomatic people with risk factors in these companies, so we can proceed to test them," said Alid Moreno, representative of the Los Chiles clinic. "In 36 hours we have the result and if there is a positive case, we proceed following the guidelines of the Ministry of Health."

According to Michael Soto-Rojas, Minister of Security, this special health operation is focused on reviewing the companies in the agricultural sector, to verify compliance with labor, immigration and health laws.

The Ministry of Health reported 23 companies, mainly packers of agricultural products, were closed for not complying with any of the aforementioned laws. Of these, one was closed because of covid-19 infected employees. The other 22 were closed for not complying with the health guidelines or any of the laws.

The list of companies was published on the website of the ministry.

Concerning the special sanitary operation in San José Province, Social Security reported that a special four-day health control is being carried out from Thursday to Sunday, which includes making more than one thousand covid-19 diagnostic tests in the Pavas District.

On Tuesday, the National Emergency Commission declared an Orange Alert to the Pavas District. According to Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, the situation needs the commitment of residents, businesses and institutions to prevent the spread of the virus. "We recommend that the people of Pavas use a mask at all times, in addition to social distancing and hygiene measures," Salas said.

Pavas is perhaps the district with the highest risk of future community transmission, Salas said.

Community transmission is when there is no clear source of origin of the infection in a new community. It happens when experts can no longer identify who became infected after being exposed to someone who interacted with people from the originally infected communities.

The goal of the operation is to check if there is a "real transmission of the virus in the community." These tests will be carried out in communities where no cases have been reported, as well as in companies in the area.

Specialists from Social Security, the Ministry of Security, the Traffic Police, the Ministry of Health, the National Emergency Commission, the Municipality of San José and the Ministry of Economy will participate in this special operation.

Since testing for covid-19 began in March, 22 cases had been detected in that district. However, the rate of people infected in that area quickly rose to 42 cases within a few days.

On Thursday the National Emergency Commission declared the Orange Alert to the District San Rafael Guatuso in Alajuela Province. The alert was activated last night until further notice.

The Orange Alert zones are now in effect for: Pavas, San Rafael Guatuso, Corredores, La Vega, Bonanza, Pococí, Peñas Blancas, Los Chiles, La Fortuna, Upala, Paquera, Alajuelita and Desamparados.

The uptick in testing in those communities is in response to the increase in covid-19 cases in the country.

On Thursday the Ministry of Health provided the following statistics of the status of the virus in the country:

• 169 new cases of patients infected with covid-19, bringing the total to 1,445 active cases.

• The ages of infected patients range from a three-month-old baby to a 94-year-old person.

• Of the 2,684 people infected since March, 716 are foreigners. That is equal to 26% of the total of patients.

• 29 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 23 are in recovery rooms and 6 have been reported in an Intensive Care Unit, ICU, with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 1,227 coronavirus patients have fully recovered.

• 26,331 people have been ruled out.

• 37,645 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 12 deaths have been reported from patients infected with covid-19 since March, three women and nine men.

The updated number of total patients in each district can be reached at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Friday morning, the pandemic has killed 489,556 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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